This is a Stevens 44 in .22LR marked "C. Titherington, Stockton" on the barrel. I can't imagine that lever was factory. I was wondering if Titherington did the entire rifle. Double set triggers are a little unusual on 44s, aren't they?

The DST is almost certainly original. A conversion would leave the single trigger pivot hole empty. They aren't common on 44 models. I have one rough action. I have heard on the forum of one other, and now this one.

Gail at CPA opined that she was glad I am trying to rehab mine, as she thinks they are quite rare. The DST configuration is less rare among the premium rifles made on the 44 action. I have logged nearly a dozen over the last couple of years.

Interestingly the DST assembly used for the 44 series is interchangeable with the 44 1/2. I have both on the bench right now. Gail has been able to supply parts for me. The levers are also almost interchangeable. Only the machining at the pivot end is different. Would be very interested to see the extractor on this one. It is a later 44 with the two-piece "bolt" pivots, and should be central. That makes it much more rare. Most of the DSTs on the 44 action are 4-digit serial numbered.

Would also love to know the serial number so I could add it to my log.

I have a George Titherington barreled German Schuetzen. I have done research on him, with the help of Michael Petrov. He was a famous barrel maker of the 1930 through at least the 50's. Do a search on the forum, I did a thread on him.

I have a late 44 DST, model 45, serial #10,xxx, while it's not a std 44, it isn't high end.

I've seen quite a few DST 44 actions. Prior to the 44 1/2 the 44 was Stevens' only single shot, so high end 44's often got DST.

Which leads to the question: Is this rifle marked 44, or was it a premium rifle?

I guess if we were to differentiate the 44 actions built into specific models, then we'd have to say none of them were plain 44's. As soon as Stevens adds other features (like DST) to a 44 action then they're no longer a plain 44, and become whatever model they are designated. But they're still on the 44 action.

Perhaps the "C." is really a "G." which has been lightly stamped or partially polished out. Can you ask the owner to check?

Bill Lawrence

You know, Bill, I'm sure you're right. It was George Titherington, wasn't it? The inscription is a little hard to read since it's directly underneath the scope and the barrel has an overall "micro-pebbly" texture. Perhaps an artifact of rust bluing?

Anyway, I'm going to take some more pictures later on today and update the album.

This is a small portion of an article about George Titherington from Collier's Magazine, August 3rd 1935, Firing Lines by Frank J. Taylor;

A Shooter Needs More Than a Gun

"I'm not making barrels for rich sports," Titherington told me. "I'm making them for shooters. Most of the best shooters are poor men." So he ekes out a precarious living, catering to real shooters. And when the world's champ comes to Stockton, Titherington makes a bed for him in the kitchen. "If Johnny got any hifalutin ideas from being entertained by lords and ladies over there, he doesn't show them around here," said Titherington. As for the champ, it's okay with him to sleep with the gas range. He's a shooting-fool for the fun of it. For a living he is a cub reporter on a San Francisco newspaper. He keeps his shooting eye in trim in the off hours when the city editor runs out of assignments. Adams has what it takes to make a great shooter. The other day I was talking with Titherington about it. He knows most of the country's great shots. "It takes more than a gun to make a shooter," he said. "Johnny Adams has the makings. Phlegmatic disposition, steady hand, good eye, patience, endurance, and the will to control his nerves and muscles until the split-second comes to squeeze the trigger." "How would he stand up in competition with the great shooters of the past?" I asked. Titherington looked up from the barrel he was reaming. Pain was written all over his face. "Say, they wouldn't have a chance in his kind of shooting," he declared. "Doc Carver, Wild Bill Hickok, Captain Bogardus, all of them, were stunt shooters. This boy is an accuracy shooter." Right there you are looking into the muzzle of an argument with hair on its chest, one that is good for a hundred rounds of open fire wherever shooting fans are gathered. How would Johnny Marion Semmelmeyer, outstanding women's pistol shot, demonstrating two-gun shooting to Johnny Adams, Adams show up in competition with the blustering W. F. "Doc" Carver, who modestly admitted back in the nineties that he was not only the greatest shot the world had ever known, but likewise the greatest the world would ever see? It all depends on your idea of something to shoot at.

Colliers Magazine, August 1935, Firing Lines by Frank J. Taylor; A Shooter Needs More Than a Gun

Amazing, now, to believe that a general interest mag like Collier's would feature such a story, but I have a '50s issue of Life with a photo of two setters and a bird-hunter on the cover. The general hostility of the press to guns & hunting began, like everything else hateful in today's popular culture, in the cursed '60s.

The Model 45 is a straight grip. Your trigger plate was either bent or replaced with a 47/49 trigger plate.

The other pictured numbers & letters, don't really have meaning but, it could be said that it came as a standard 45 (0) and maybe sent back to the factory for modification (EX centered in smaller font).

The "EX" might relate to a factory-return/modification; but it's always been my impression that it was added at the time of manufacture to indicate that the gun had something "extra" such as better wood, special sights, a non-standard barrel, etc.. In this case it could have very well meant a pistol-grip stock.

The "EX" might relate to a factory-return/modification; but it's always been my impression that it was added at the time of manufacture to indicate that the gun had something "extra" such as better wood, special sights, a non-standard barrel, etc.. In this case it could have very well meant a pistol-grip stock.Bill Lawrence

Has anyone observed a strictly "catalog standard" 44 or 44-1/2 with the Ex marking? I haven't had one in a long time. But even one so marked would imply a different meaning for the mark.

I doubt that the wood on your rifle is by George Titherington. I've owned three rifles that I think were completely his work, and the wood was rudely shaped compared to yours. His barrel were fine, his stock making not so much.

An interesting side point: in his Gun Digest article about the first .22 Hornet, Mark Benenson said that Titherington ground the chamber reamer of Watkins, Woody and Whelen.

Perhaps the best rifle in Titherington's Estate was a .28-30 Zischang Borchardt which stayed with a California based ASSRA shooter for about 50 years.

I doubt that the wood on your rifle is by George Titherington. I've owned three rifles that I think were completely his work, and the wood was rudely shaped compared to yours. His barrel were fine, his stock making not so much.

An interesting side point: in his Gun Digest article about the first .22 Hornet, Mark Benenson said that Titherington ground the chamber reamer of Watkins, Woody and Whelen.

Perhaps the best rifle in Titherington's Estate was a .28-30 Zischang Borchardt which stayed with a California based ASSRA shooter for about 50 years.

I bet the ASSRA shooter in California was the same guy who had this one as well. He sold the Zischang a while back, but kept this one. I think he used to visit Titherington before he passed on.

To add fuel to the speculation, does anyone have an as-cataloged 441/2, especially a Model 45, with the "EX" stamp?

Bill Lawrence

If "EX" means "something extra added," then ALL 45s (and higher grades) should have it; that is, except those put together by someone who forgot to strike the proper mark! Therefore, a 45 without the mark might only represent failure to follow the Stevens protocol.